Modular furniture is frequently found in offices and comprises various movable units such as computer surfaces, desks, bookshelves, racks, etc. They are assembled into office cubicles and can be broken down and reassembled when it is desired to change the configuration of the office. More furniture can be added or taken away. Such furniture generally includes panels that are assembled with office units. At the bottom of the assemblage, as well as elsewhere, are "kick plates" which are the equivalent of old-fashioned "mopboards" and communication and power wiring runs through them.
Generally speaking, kickplates are made of sheet metal, although they can also be plastic and are usually about a sixteenth of an inch thick. In order to accommodate electrical communications ports, such as power outlets, computer outlets, telephone jacks, and the like, the kickplates have openings preformed in them, which are also called panel "cutouts" and are usually rectangular.
A problem is that there has been no standardization of the size of the panel openings or cutouts. This is unlike the standard household or office 110 volt receptacle box which is secured, as for example, against a wooden stud in a wall that is made of plasterboard and is subsequently papered or painted. These standard receptacle boxes will naturally, accept standard sized modules, such as switches, electrical outlets, telephone and/or computer jacks.
An object of this invention is to produce an adaptor or adjustable receptacle to mount modules or data communication ports in any of a range of sizes of panel openings or cutouts in modular furniture. One type of module which the present invention is intended to accommodate is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,866 to Bodenwiser et al. and which is assigned to the Assignee of the present invention.